Léo Fitouchi

Research Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse

Toulouse School of Economics, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences

I’m a postdoctoral research fellow at IAST within the Toulouse School of Economics.

Next year I will join MIT and Harvard University as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow.

I investigate the structure and function of moral cognition: Why do human minds produce moral judgments? What is the computational architecture of moral cognition? How do these cognitive algorithms shape the evolution of normative culture—including moral norms, religious traditions, and punitive institutions?

I address these questions by integrating insights from cognitive science (e.g., moral psychology), evolutionary biology (e.g., game theory), and the social sciences (e.g., socio-cultural anthropology). I test the theories I develop using behavioral experiments and cross-cultural databases.

Selected publications

Fitouchi, L., André, J.-B. & Baumard, N. (2023). Moral disciplining: the cognitive and evolutionary foundations of puritanical morality (Target article). Behavioral and Brain Sciences 46, e293. [PDF] [Response to commentaries]

Fitouchi L., Singh, M., André, J.-B., Baumard, N. (2025). Prosocial religions as folk-technologies of mutual policing. Psychological Review, 132(6), 1410-1437 [PDF]

Fitouchi, L. & Singh, M. (in press). Retributive sentiments track both deterrent and compensatory concerns in a small-scale society and a WEIRD sample. Psychological Science [PDF]

Lie-Panis, J., Fitouchi, L., Baumard, N., André, J.-B (2024). The social leverage effect: Institutions transform weak reputation effects into strong incentives for cooperation. PNAS, 121(51). [PDF]

Fitouchi L. & Nettle, N. (2025). Harmless bodily pleasures are moralized because they are perceived as reducing self-control and cooperativeness. Cognition, 262, 106154 [PDF]

Fitouchi, L., & Singh, M. (2023). Punitive justice serves to restore reciprocal cooperation in three small-scale societies. Evolution and Human Behavior, 44(5), 502-514. [PDF]

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